Do you consider the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda part of Latin America? (land, area)

[Tom Lennox 70]

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

No, Those islands are not Spanish or Portuguese speaking islands. To be part of Latin America, the island/country have to be spanish or portuguese speaking. Even though Haiti language is Hatian creole and french(which is a latin/romance language), its not consider part of Latin America.

[King0fthehill]

no, not linguistically, culturally or politically.

[jtur88]

Do you consider Guyana, an English-speaking country on the South American mainland, to be part of Latin America? Do you consider Paupa-New Guinea to be part of Asia? PNG shares an island with West Irian, which is part of Indonesia, which is part of Asia. Indonesia also shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia, which is in Asia. There is a land border between Malaysia and Indonesia, and another land border between Indonesia and PNG. So where does Asia stop?

These are meaningless questions, which unfortunately, clutter intelligent discourse by diverting attention from important subjects and throwing it into bickering about irrelevancies. It's like asking if a certain body of water is a gulf or a bay. Or asking if Australia is a continent or not.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by jtur88

These are meaningless questions, which unfortunately, clutter intelligent discourse by diverting attention from important subjects and throwing it into bickering about irrelevancies. It's like asking if a certain body of water is a gulf or a bay. Or asking if Australia is a continent or not.

I disagree, what a body of water is defined as doesn't really have any bearing on people's culture, language, politics, etc. But what the culture of an area of land is defined as certainly does. Sure, the lines may get blurred sometimes, it may be difficult to define an area with very mixed cultures - but I don't see how that makes it meaningless. Maybe it's just because I have a mild interest in anthropology but I find it very interesting. If it's such a meaningless question, why even bother replying in the first place?

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

I don't.

[Geography Freak]

They're definitely not, although I think the term Latin America is too ambiguous. As it's been said here, people speak a Latin language in Haiti yet no one think of it as Latin America. I think it would be more accurate to speak of Spanish America, etc.

[Raggy dee Ann]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

Jamaica is very Carabbean as is the Bahamas...nothing Latin American those two Islands. St Croix always feels very Caribbean to. Bermunda is technically in the Atlantic isn't it and has a different feel to it....just like the Cayman Islands.

[abrown17]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

No way, I definately consider them separately and distinctly Caribbean due to the location, and especially the culture. As a matter of fact, there are several Latin American countries that are accepted as "Caribbean" due to culture, despite the location: Panama, Belize, Guyana,Suriname, etc.

[Geography Freak]

Caribbean and Latin American are not mutually exclusive categories in the least. Caribbean is a geographic category - Latin American is cultural.